A Lover's Flames
by WalkingByMyself
Summary: "I HATE YOU NATSUME HYUUGA! AND I ALWAYS WILL!" She said that, but what happens when he shows up later in her dorm? A candle goes out, and flames appear. Will sparks fly? Can he pluck up the courage to make a confession? NatsumeXMikan


**Okay, I have become addicted to this über cute anime called Gakuen Alice. So, I have made a vow that I would write a one-shot for my favorite ship! I just finished the anime today, while I was writing this. . .**

**NATSUMEXMIKAN FOREVER, DUDE! **

**They are too cute together! Plus, Natsume is so mean and dangerous looking that he's way too darn adorable!**

**It's too much to bear. . .**

**I don't own anything from Gakuen Alice or the quote from the Princess Bride! I just love the characters and da quote!**

_X:~:X:~:X:~:X:~:X_

_A Lover's Flame_

The fire in her heart was gone. Nothing felt good at the moment. Everything felt odd and sad, her world was grey and not full of colors like it usually was. It was all _his_ fault. The fire was put out by him, the same one who put the fire in her heart.

_Curse that blooded Natsume! Embarrassing me in class like that! Well, I'll show him! I can't be too upset about this! I mean, he's done this kind of thing before. . ._

Sakura Mikan sighed and sat under one of the large oak trees that were scattered all around Alice Academy.

_It just hurt more than usual this time. . ._

Mikan pulled her knees to her chest, she felt like punching something, but the tree would be too hard and the grass around her looked too nice. Not even the sun was cheering her up for once.

"I wonder what got him on edge this time," Mikan wondered aloud. "I didn't do anything wrong! He just called me out. . ."

_Stupid, stupid Natsume. . ._

The tears began to well up in her eyes. _How can such an intelligent and amazing boy like Natsume not take a hint? _she thought to herself_._

Mikan decided to stay under the tree until later, until it was time to head for her dorm. She closed her eyes and buried her head in her lap, hoping that no one would notice her.

But, apparently, no one wanted her to stay under that tree.

"Mikan-chan, are you okay?"

Mikan looked up. "Iinchou-san!"

Iinchou smiled down at her. "Well, are you? Natsume was such a mean guy back there, so I came to make sure that you were okay."

Mikan stood and wiped the tears from her eyes. Iinchou held out his hand. "Let's go talk to Narumi-sensei."

"Hai," Mikan said, glumly.

Iinchou lead the way through the campus, towards the faculty room. He had never seen Mikan this upset. She had cried and been upset before, but, this time, it seemed different.

_Middle school changed me_, Mikan thought, solemnly. _And now that we're in high-school, everything has changed. I was never this lovesick about Natsume before, what happened?_

They reached the faculty room and met up with Narumi.

"So, it was that Natsume again was it?" Narumi asked.

Mikan nodded as Iinchou left the room to meet up with another friend.

"Ah, young love," Narumi sighed. "It's always been so melodramatic."

Mikan's cheeks turned crimson. "N-No! I-I don't like Natsume like that! I-It's nothing like that! I-I'm just tired o-of him teasing me day in and day out!"

Narumi laughed. "Like I said before, young love. You've covered the first step of denial. Which is denial. Are we gonna work out this problem or not?"

Mikan nodded and looked back up at her old teacher.

"Step 1 to solving this is admitting you _have_ a problem," he said. "Well, Mikan, do you have a problem?"

"Yes. . ."

"And what is your problem?"

"A stupid, heartless, mean, and an amazing boy called Natsume Hyuuga."

"There you go."

Mikan looked at him. "What's the next step?"

"I don't know! But now that you know your problem, you can fix it!"

Mikan hung her head. "Thanks, Narumi-sensei."

She walked out the door and wandered around the campus for Hotaru. Hotaru might be willing to listen to her useless rants about how much she hated _Natsume_.

She made it to Hotaru's lab and looked around. Hotaru wasn't there. Mikan sighed, she'd been doing that a lot lately, and closed the door. No one was anywhere these days.

Mikan decided that it was time to head to her dorm room, so she did. She looked up at the sky, it was growing cloudy, rapidly.

"Good, I like rain," Mikan mumbled. "It'll put out Natsume's fire. That'll show him."

_Although_, she thought,_ it's not really pay back. . . ah, well, better than nothing at all!_

She decided to walk through the slightly more wooded area on her way to her dorm room. Mikan looked at the trees, she saw the one she and Natsume had sat under together once.

Memory lane, for her anyway, wasn't always fun. . . especially when it came to memories about Natsume.

"Natsume. . ." she sighed.

"Oi! Mikan-chan!" a voice called.

Mikan turned and a small smile appeared on her lips. "Ah! Tsubasa-senpai! Hi!"

Tsubasa was smiling like always, and looking cool. He wore jeans, a grey shirt, a regular rain jacket, and red and black converse.

Her old friend gave her a hug and Mikan was happy to return the hug. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm visiting, of course," Tsubasa said, a big smile decorating his handsome face.

Mikan's smile broadened, but then Natsume's words rang through her head again and the happy and lovely smile disappeared.

"Hey," Tsubasa said. "That's no way to look! I'm here!"

"I know, but. . ."

"It's Natsume again, isn't it? That boy's _always_ doing this to you." Mikan nodded and the two sat down on a bench. "What did he do this time?"

Mikan drew her legs up against her chest again and looked at the ground. "He-He called me an ugly and unwanted loser. It continued from there. He insulted everything about me, my Alice, my hair, my skin, my clothes, my face. Everything that he could think of. . ."

Tsubasa sighed. "That kid is gonna be murdered. . ."

"No!" Mikan exclaimed. "I don't want him to die!"

"Gotcha!" her friend said, winking. "You care for him!"

"Well, I guess so, but-"

"No, but's! The reason it hurt was because you care for him he isn't returning your feelings at all."

Mikan looked up at Tsubasa. She blinked and looked at the road ahead. It was _him_, Natsume, along with Ruka. . .

"Duck!" she shrieked.

She grabbed Tsubasa's shirt and dragged him down behind some shrubs. "Shh! it's Natsume!"

"Now we're hiding from him? Tsubasa asked. "Really?"

"I don't want to see _him_ and he obviously doesn't want to see _my_ "ugly" face!"

Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Young love. . ."

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?!" Mikan exploded.

"Oh, it's Ugly," a far too familiar voice said.

Mikan shuddered, it was _him_. Natsume Hyuuga.

She looked up to see _him_. He looking directly at her, but then he saw Tsubasa. "What're you doing here?" he snarled.

"Visiting," Tsubasa replied, simply.

Natsume ignored Mikan and just glared at Tsubasa. "Ruka," he said, after a minute or two. "Let's go."

Ruka looked at Mikan, but hurried off and after his friend.

She couldn't stand it anymore. She stood up, tears slowly fell down her cheek. "I HATE YOU NATSUME HYUUGA! AND I ALWAYS WILL!"

Natsume stopped walking and turned back, but Mikan had already took off running towards her dorm. She didn't want to see _him_. She regretted what she said, but she was glad she got her frustrations out.

The tears flowed freely now, trailing out behind her. "That baka! I hate him!" She ran up the stairs of her dorm and reached her room. She entered her room and slammed the door behind her. "I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM!"

"Mikan-chan?"

"GO AWAY!"

Whoever it was left.

Mikan fell onto her bed and started bawling. "I hope I never see him again. . ."

_X:~:X:~:X:~:X:~:X_

_Later that night. . ._

Mikan sat on her balcony and started a few flames on her multi-wick candle. A cinnamon scented candle. She looked out into the night. She wished she could just fly away. Away from _him_. . .

But Hotaru. . . Iinchou. . . Ruka. . . and that stupid baka. . . Natsume Hyuuga. . .

"DARN THAT BAKA!" Mikan nearly screamed. "Why did he have to pick on me?"

It never rained like she wanted it to. The wind was dry and the air was sticky and humid. It seemed that everything was trying to make her even more sad and upset and angry than she was before.

"I wish life wasn't a pain," she said.

The small flames went out. She grunted and got up to relight them, but something, no, _someone_ beat her to it. More flames, ones that was more lively, sprang to life. They danced before her eyes. A lover's flames. Natsume's flames.

"'Life is pain, Your Highness'," a gruff voice replied.

She knew that voice. "N-Natsume?"

Mikan turned back towards her room. Natsume was standing in the doorway to her balcony, in his hands was a dancing ball of flames. He wasn't smiling, but was wearing his signature dangerous and daring look, a glare.

He grumbled something to her.

"What?" Mikan asked.

He turned to her, his crimson eyes full of flame and anger. His black hair moved with the wind, looking almost as angry as his eyes. He was wearing black jean shorts, a black shirt, a black jacket, and a black cat hat. He still wore his ear clasp on one ear and a ruby earring on the other.

Mikan averted her eyes for a second to recover from her sudden blush at being caught staring at him.

"I said sorry," he grumbled again. "Don't make me said it again, Polkadot Girl."

"Then don't call me that!"

Natsume cast his eyes sideways and upwards. "I came to apologize to you."

Mikan crossed her arms over her chest, smirking in superiority. "Now why would you do that?"

"Well. . ." Natsume hesitated. He turned his head so he wasn't looked at her at all and closed his eyes. "Ruka made me."

"You're such a liar, Natsume," Mikan said, laughing lightly.

Natsume glared at her. "It's not a lie."

"Yes, it is!" Mikan said, now laughing harder. "You came here by your own free will!"

"How would you know that, Pigtail-Freak?"

Mikan stopped laughing and returned his glare. "Because," she said. "If Ruka had told you to come, he would've come himself, just to make sure you would do what you said you'd do."

Natsume growled in defeat. "Fine, yeah, I came here by myself-"

"I knew it!"

"-because I didn't want Ruka fawning all over you."

"What's wrong with people "fawning" over me?" Mikan demanded. "People just like me! Is that a problem concerning you?"

"Yes! Of Course It Concerns Me!"

Emotion. Emotion flooded his face. Mikan was taken aback by this. Natsume wasn't one to shout much, he usually growled, grumbled, or mumbled instead of talking or shouting. His voice was always low, never loud or full of feelings.

Mikan blushed lightly. _Why does he always make my face red?_ "How is it a problem for you?"

"Because-!" He stopped short and his voice dropped. "Because it makes me jealous."

Mikan gasped. _No way! No way this is Natsume!_

She tackled him to the ground and the fire in his hands disappeared instantly because of her Nullification Alice.

"What are you doing, Polka Dots?" he hissed.

Mikan ran one hand through his hair. His cologne filled her nose. Cinnamon. "Not a hologram," she mumbled. "Are you an alien?" she asked, getting back up.

"Does it look like I'm an alien, Baka?"

"It could be a clever disguise," Mikan said, thoughtfully. "Natsume hardly ever shows emotion."

It looked like Natsume, smelled like Natsume, talked like Natsume, and acted like Natsume. This Natsume had the same effect on her as the old one did.

"I'm not an alien, Polka Dots," Natsume growled. "If I was an alien, how would I know that you changed the S.A class for the good of them all."

"That's true," Mikan said, still doubtful. It showed plainly on her face that she doubted him. "But Natsume wouldn't show-hey! Are you alrigh- NATSUME!"

Natsume was now on all fours clutching his heart and gasping for air. She remembered that his life could be shortened because of his Alice, the more he used it, the shorter his life got. The farther away he'd be from her.

"NATSUME!" Mikan screamed. She dropped to her knees and reached to him. "NATSUME!"

There was a sound, something along the lines of a chuckle.

Before she could react, his head rose and his arm shot out and hooked itself around her neck, drawing her face close to his. "Ba-ka," he said, smirking yet still growling. "You always fall for that one, no matter how mad at me you get."

Mikan's pink face was now a firetruck. "You baka," she said, luckily, without stuttering.

"And you love me anyway. . ." And with that he kissed her.

Mikan pulled away in surprise. "W-W-What?"

Natsume sighed in exasperation. "Imai said you were slow, but I hoped you wouldn't be this slow, Polkadots."

"I'm not slow! I'm just. . . really. . . _really_ confused right now!"

Natsume leaned against her bed, lying down so he was propped up against it. "I like you, Mikan. I didn't the first few days I saw you. When I first saw you, I knew you were beautiful, but I hated you for making me all nervous. Gosh, I hate talking."

Mikan cocked her head to the side. "You think I'm beautiful? Not ugly?"

"I never thought you were. I thought were beyond lovely." Natsume sighed and Mikan tapped his head lightly. "What are you doing, Baka?" he snapped.

Mikan flinched back in surprise and, mostly, in fear. Natsume could be down right scary most of the time and confusing as all heck whenever she was around him.

"Mikan, I like you. . ."

Mikan smiled. "I can do better than that," she said.

"I'd like to see you try, Polkadots!"

"Okay," she said, slowly. She leaned up and kissed him gently. Natsume moved to kiss her back, but Mikan pulled away, smiling playfully. He looked slightly disappointed, but Mikan just continued smiling. "I love you, Natsume Hyuuga."

His crimson eyes widened in surprise.

"Try and top that," she challenged, playfully.

"Okay." Natsume bit his bottom lip, unsure of what to do next, he hadn't planned this far ahead of time. He certainly hadn't expected _her_ to kiss _him_. "Would you go to Central Town with me tomorrow?" he mumbled.

"What was that?" Mikan cupped her ear. "I couldn't quite hear you."

She giggled when she saw the smallest blush lightly color Natsume's cheeks and the tips of his ears. "Go on," she urged.

"Mikan, would you go to Central Town with me tomorrow?"

"I would love to, Natsume."

Her fire was back. . . and nothing could put it back out. Not even Natsume, because he brought it back, for good this time.

_X:~:X:~:X:~:X:~:X_

**YAY! NATSUME AND MIKAN! NATSUME AND MIKAN!**

**YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!**

**I AM DONE WITH THIS!**

**Gosh, I want to write more of them, but I want to end it here.**

**I LOVE THIS ANIME! More than Gosick!**

**NatsumeXMikan! FOREVER!**

**THEY'RE SO KAWAI TOGETHER! IT MAKES ME WANNA CRY!**

**And it takes a lot to get me to cry over a couple in a book, anime, or movie.**

**DAS END!**


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